


Not the Fall That Will Kill You

by misura



Category: The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Genre: Fear of Flying, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Don't like to fly?" Ramius asked.
Relationships: Marko Ramius/Jack Ryan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	Not the Fall That Will Kill You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [simplecoffee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecoffee/gifts).



"Don't like to fly?" Ramius asked, sitting down in the seat next to Jack after a brief conversation with its previous occupant which Jack now sort of regretted not having paid any attention to; he'd heard it starting, but he'd tried to use it as white noise, a low-key hum of distraction.

He'd take sleeping pills next time, except that the last thing he wanted to do was take sleeping pills, because what use was he going to be to himself or anyone else if he'd drugged himself to sleep?

Not that being wide awake had done fuck-all good last time something'd happened.

He said, "Not really, no," before it occurred to him that he might have lied.

Ramius felt like the kind of person who'd have seen through that, though, so maybe it was just as well and anyway, it wasn't as if Jack was ashamed of it or embarrassed about it or anything. He didn't like it, sure, but then, there were plenty of things he didn't like and did anyway, because he had to.

Because you couldn't go through life avoiding things you didn't like.

Ramius nodded, as if he'd heard all of that - or, more probably, as if Jack had only confirmed what he'd already guessed. "I'd ask if I could get you anything, but knowing the sort of person you are, I would assume that if there were, by now you'd have done so yourself."

"Thanks, anyway," Jack said. Talking to Ramius was a kind of distraction, too. Better than white noise, but part of him also felt it was more dangerous, because talking to Ramius meant paying attention to what Ramius was saying and doing and what the expressions on Ramius's face meant, and if anything did happen, that meant he'd be slower to react to it.

On the other hand, telling Ramius to piss off would be rather rude and it wasn't what Jack wanted, anyway; he liked talking to Ramius and watching Ramius and Ramius's face and the way his hands sometimes moved when he talked or when he didn't.

Jack supposed that meeting a guy at a dinner once might give you enough of an impression to bet your life on, as well as arguably the safety of the entire USA, but it also left a lot of holes when it came to the small stuff, the finer details, the bits you didn't have to put in your report or analysis because they weren't important to the larger scheme of things.

"You're welcome. Dr Ryan." Ramius smiled. He hadn't, in any of the pictures, Jack thought, or at least not like this. It made him look younger, more approachable.

"Please. Jack."

"Jack," Ramius repeated, as if trying out the taste and sound of it.

Ramius didn't offer his own first name for Jack's use in return, which was fine - maybe Ramius liked formality or disliked familiarity or wanted to avoid the impression that he and Jack were closer than they were. Jack felt his mind latch on to the question, analyzing, trying to form a conclusion he really didn't have enough data to support.

Arguably, he hadn't had enough data for his conclusion that Ramius was trying to defect, either, but that had been a life-or-death, national-emergency type of situation. This wasn't.

This was just Jack, stuck on a plane, trying not to repeat the mistake he'd made with Caroline.

"I - " he started, not sure how he'd planned to go on; Ramius had been married, and even if there'd been no children, all evidence suggested that he'd loved his wife. Of course, Jack did have a kid, and he couldn't think of that bit as a mistake, so maybe he shouldn't read too much into Ramius's marital status.

Maybe he should just remember where they were, and how stupid it would be to let himself develop those sorts of feelings for someone he probably wasn't going to be seeing a whole lot of in the future.

Naturally, that was the moment when the plane hit some turbulence and Jack knew that it didn't mean anything, really he did; a bit of turbulence wasn't going to bring down a plane, but telling himself that and believing it weren't the same thing at all, that wasn't how it worked, so all he could do was stay calm, keep up the appearance of being calm.

Ramius took his hand. Jack looked at him, half-worried what he'd see, but Ramius only smiled at him again, and Jack wanted to point out that he wasn't Sally, that he wasn't some kid who needed their hand to be held by a grown-up in order to feel safe, but Ramius's smile suggested he knew all that and had grabbed Jack's hand anyway, because he also knew what bullshit it was.

The plane stabilized. Jack added the incident to his mental file of See? It Was Fine, knowing it wouldn't help. Ramius holding his hand had, but it wasn't as if he could be taking Ramius along on any flight he was going to make for the rest of his life, so that wasn't useful information to have at all, apart from the fact where it made his life even more complicated than he already wanted it to be.

"Thanks."

Ramius nodded, throwing in another one of his smiles for extra effect. "Any time."


End file.
